Tomorrow
by wooster182
Summary: This will eventually be a string of one-shots, describing moments between Kelly and Dylan that fill in the gaps from the series. First up, 3 days after the series finale. Kelly and Dylan have chosen each other. Are they ready for forever?
1. Chapter 1

The beach apartment was dark and quiet for the first time since they had leased it six years ago. Gina was gone, to everyone's relief. Donna was finally on her honeymoon with David.

And Kelly was lying next to Dylan. It seemed so odd that they had never spent the night in her room together before. She had lived there so long that it was a part of who she was; the plush red on the wall, the flowery accents on her bed, the feminine vanity with memories of high school, college, and girlhood tucked away in drawers were so reminiscent of who she was.

She propped herself up on her elbow, allowing her head to rest on her wrist. Blonde strands fell over her naked arm as she watched him.

She was finally ready to admit it. She never had before. She was afraid to. Dylan McKay was her soul mate. No one knew her like he did. Not even Brandon. Brandon knew her goodness; Dylan knew it all. He knew the good, the bad, the ugly, all of the traits in herself she was afraid to show to anyone else. And he still loved her as she loved him.

She smiled softly at the thought as she listened to him breathe. Since the wedding, they had spent the last three days almost entirely in bed, laughing, loving, telling stories of their lives apart and together. Sometimes they would go to the beach and swim, cuddle up in the sand under an umbrella as they had done so many years ago. They had walked hand in hand to their spot, the one they had promised each other they would go to if they were ever in trouble. Dylan had told her he had seen her there with Matt when he was binging. She had held his face in her palms and softly told him that he never had to hide from her again.

But she squirmed now in bed as she wondered if he would ever run again. She had lost him before, once to Brenda after she got back from Paris, to Toni when she had turned him away, to drugs and indifference. How many years would she have with him before he left her again? Did she really care though? Was it enough just to have him in her life completely, if only for a while?

As if reading her mind, he mumbled, "Why aren't you asleep?"

She rubbed his bare back, smiling as she said in a girlish voice, "How did you know that I was awake?"

Digging his head further into the pillow, he said, "Because your ice cold feet aren't wrapped around mine looking for warmth."

She hit him on the shoulder, causing him to moan in feigned pain. "I do not have cold feet."

Finally turning over, he smiled lopsidedly and roguishly, staring at her. "The thermal socks in your drawer beg to differ." Growing serious, he brushed her arm from her shoulder to her wrist. "Why were you awake, Kel? Missing Donna?"

"It seems wrong without her here. This was our home for so long." Her head tilted down, blonde streaks falling over her face.

It was his turn to avert his eyes. Quietly yet powerfully, he said, "When you weren't living at Brandon's."

Her fingertips played with the back of his hand, drawing mindless pictures. "Dylan…" she said low and cautioning as she so often did. "I can't take back the time I lived at the Walsh house. It was my home." Her eyes softened sadly, the look she only gave to him. "But it's not what I want anymore. Brandon is not who I want."

His eyes, watery and deep, looked straight into hers. "Because what you and I had was missing in your relationship."

Leaning into him, her hand slid further down his back. Staring right back at him, she said, "Because I missed you. And what you and I had."

He blinked a few times before he slowly began to smile. It had taken her two years, hell it had taken her five, but she had finally admitted it. Leaning up, he kissed her fully until he had to lean her back, cupping the back of her head with his hand. He deepened the kiss as she fell onto the pillow, urged on by her small, playful groans. Finally, he felt her body tense and he pulled away only a few inches, his breath hot on her mouth and cheeks. "What is it, Kelly?"

She squirmed underneath him, echoes of the young insecure girl reflecting over her delicate features. "I chose you. You chose Toni. Dylan, I'm so sorry you lost her, but there's a part of me that will always know that you wanted her."

His eyes were pleading. He wished more than anything that she would finally know how he felt. "I've told you before, Kel. I asked you _first_. I'm asking you _now_."

She looked down and away, saying, "But you asked Toni to marry you. You just wanted to take me on a trip."

He fell onto the bed on his back and let out a deep breath. He had never planned on telling her this, but just as he had told her about being at her wedding, he knew it was time to confess. "I had bought you a ring."

"What?" Her nose crinkled in confusion.

They turned so they lay facing each other, cuddling their pillows, staring intently at each other. But Dylan's gaze drifted off as he remembered their past. "The day I bought you the plane tickets five years ago—I got a ring."

She sucked in a gasp. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to, but after Brandon asked, it would look like I was just trying to out-do him, not really ask you." He smiled softly. "I decided if you were going to choose me, then it would have been the time to ask."

"But if I had known you were really ready to commit—"

He rubbed her arm up and down slowly with the palm of his hand. "You would what? Have said yes?" He shook his head. "I don't want to know that, Kelly. I don't want to think about how my life would have been different the last five years had you known."

Her eyes watered. She hurt when he hurt and he had been in pain for so long. In nearly a whisper, she asked, "What did you do with the ring?"

He let out a small laugh. "I threw it off the Eiffel Tower."

She smiled, but turned away from his slightly. "Brandon kept our ring for years. We couldn't let it go."

He stared at the ceiling. He knew she wasn't being spiteful or mean. She wanted to understand. She wanted to know that she hadn't chosen the wrong man. Taking her hand in his, he said, "I didn't throw it away because I wasn't going to ask you again." He came up over her again and cupped her face with his hand. "I wanted to ask you to marry me with a ring you'd say yes to."

A wave of love flashed over her eyes now. Thickly, she said, "I don't need a ring to ever say yes to you, Dylan. I just need to know you'll be here."

He squeezed her arm for emphasis. "I _will_ be."

She wrapped her arms around his bare back and they held each other close in silence for a long time. "I love you so much," she finally whispered into his ear.

He turned so that he'd flip over on his back to have her on top of him. "Through everything, Kel, all of the drugs and Toni and Bren and Brandon, there has always been a part of me that knew we'd find each other again. I will _always _want you, no matter what happens."

She made a trail over his collar bone with her index finger. "When you were gone, I had made this safe life for myself. I knew what my life was going to be like. I thought I could ignore the hole that I could never fill up when I thought of you."

He gave her a small, sad smile. Nudging her hips with his own, he said, "That's why I came back, Kelly. I couldn't pretend that I didn't need you anymore. The hole was too deep."

Bending down, she kissed him lightly on the lips. He followed her up and searched for her mouth, kissing her slowly, longingly. "I wish I didn't need you so much," she whispered.

He nuzzled into her ear. "Please don't say that." Hugging her tighter, he said, "I'll always need you, Kel. I'll always be here."

She shook her head. "How do I know that? How can you ask me not to worry?"

Tilting his head inquisitively, his eyes sparked with a smile. "Last time I walked to the refrigerator, I noticed the place looks a little empty. Looks like you could use a new renter."

She smiled, a ghost of the young college girl flashed across her happy face. "Are you saying you want to move in with me?"

He let out a breath, glancing over her body admiring the curves of her thigh. "We've done just about everything else. I think it's time we try something new."

Her face clouded again. "So this is a novelty to you."

"You know it's not," he said forcibly, agitated. "Kel, you're going to have to start trusting that I want this."

She searched his eyes and she knew. She could feel it. All of her doubt and guilt washed away. It would take time to build a new relationship, but she was ready. "I do, Dylan." She wrapped her arms around him. "I want you to move in with me."

His smile started slowly, lopsidedly. "You do?" He watched her nod her head and mumble a girlish "Mmhmm." Holding her tight, he quickly flipped them over in a roguish, masculine, Dylan-esque fashion, causing her to cry out and giggle happily. He flitted light kisses across her face as she sifted her hands through his thick hair.

He pulled away from her suddenly, causing her to wrinkle her brow. "Dylan?"

Seventeen again, playful cockiness lightened his hard face. "The first thing we need to do is redecorate. Too many chicks have lived her for way too long."

"We are not!" Laughing, she hit his arm.

"No, no," he said, jerking his head excitedly as he spoke. "We could turn Donna's room into a game room with a pool table and poker table. Maybe a dart board."

Cocking her eyebrow, her two front teeth slightly jutted out from her smiling lips. "You are not changing my apartment."

His face softened now. In a rasp barely above a thick whisper, he said, "Our apartment."

She pulled him to her closely. "Our apartment," she repeated breathily in his ear. Before falling asleep, she reminded herself to tell her mother in the morning. Jackie, she knew, would be the first to buy them an impractical piece of furniture. Comforted by the heat of his body, her last thought was of waking up with his arm around her, of his warm cologne surrounding her, of his bright smile and the taste of his lips against hers tomorrow.

For the first time in six years, she finally believed it. They would always have a tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't realize it had been almost a year since I started this! I've had this chapter in my head for months and couldn't decide how to finish it. Thanks so much to jaceb1 for inspiring me to finish the next chapter. This one starts 7 years before the first, where it all begins. Hope you enjoy!

Moment 2: Love's first kiss

All he could think as she closed the door behind her with the summer sun flowing around her was that she looked like an angel. Her white dress looked pure curved around her milky skin. Her blonde hair looked soft, golden, touchable. She was beautiful.

But she was more than that. She had become one of his best friends that summer. He had thought it was going to be harder to see Brenda off to Paris but the truth was that it was a relief. As much as they loved each other, they had needed the break. Everything had gotten too intense and now he could breathe. It would be better once she got back than before she had left.

What he never planned to tell Bren was that this had been the best summer he had spent in a long time, maybe ever. As he looked at Kelly, her smile bright and her eyes warm, he knew she was the major reason for it.

"Hey, stranger," she said in her typical high-pitched friendly tone. "What are you up to?"

He gave her a lopsided smile and rubbed the tips of his fingers against the palm of his other hand. "I wondered if Jackie and Mel needed another babysitter tonight." He picked up a VHS tape from the couch. "I rented another old movie just in case."

Her face brightened. "Another Bogie flick?"

His eyes shifted to the ground and he chuckled softly. "I'm starting to think you have a thing for bad boys."

"Well," she said, smiling coyly, "my reputation has always preceded me."

His face grew serious and a cloud shifted over his featured. "Kel, I wasn't saying anything about your reputation."

Her smile faded and she walked farther into the room. "I know. But no matter what I do, someone is always going to remember me as the blonde bimbo, so I might as well laugh at it, right?"

"Kelly, I've known you since we were five years old," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"You've done a lot of things that I know you're not proud of. So have I. But you have never been a bimbo."

She searched his eyes deeply until she knew he was telling the truth and her bright smiled slowly returned. She tried not to notice how much she liked the feel of his hand against her skin. "Mel and Jackie are taking Erin to my grandparents' for the night. But we could still play the movie here in the cabana."

His eyes brightened with relief and excitement. "Maybe pop some popcorn?"

"Sure," she giggled. "We've got Scrabble too. Maybe it'll help us prepare for English next year."

With both hands around her waist, he plopped her down on the couch. "I don't want to think about school yet!" He popped the movie in the VCR and took a Jiffy pop bag out of the cabinet and put it on the small range, turning it on with a flick of his wrist.

She reached for the Scrabble game underneath the end table next to the couch. Looking behind her, she watched him move around her cabana kitchen with a laugh. "You've mooched off us way too long this summer if you already know where everything is!"

Feigning offense, he put his hands over his heart and furrowed his brow. "I can always take my Bogie tape and go home if you want me to."

Her perfectly arched brow raised and she puckered her lips. "No, I don't want you to go."

As he walked past her towards the couch, he quickly pecked her cheek. "Good." Neither noticed the gesture. It felt so normal, so casual, so right. It felt as though they had been close like this forever. It didn't feel wrong or out of place.

The movie played in the background, but they paid little attention to it except for when Kelly would giggle at Dylan's Bogart impersonation or jump when someone in the movie got shot.

Finally, as she placed the word "nonsense" on the Scrabble board, she said, "You know, I don't have a clue what's going on in this movie."

He looked back at the TV screen as "The Big Sleep" played on. "Nobody does," he said with a shrug. "That's part of the beauty of the movie. None of it makes sense and yet you can't stop watching it."

"Why?" she said, wrinkling her forehead.

He looked away thoughtfully. "Probably because of Bogie and Bacall."

She shook her head. "Who?"

"Bacall," he repeated. "Lauren Bacall. She's the pretty blonde playing the old man's daughter."

"What about her?" she said as she added up his points on the pad of paper in front of her.

"This was her first movie," he said quietly, watching her hand movie across the tablet. "And they fell in love."

Her head jerked up and her jaw dropped. "But he's like 30 years older than her!"

"He was married too." He shrugged again.

"Ew," she said, turning up her nose. "And this is why people watch this movie?"

He looked deeply into her eyes and said, "What they did wasn't right, but they loved each other.

And through everything, they ended up together. They loved each other til the day he died."

She stared back at him until the stillness consumed them both and she finally looked away. "I guess it is sort of romantic," she said, watching the screen as Bogie kisses her in the car. But couldn't she pick someone who wasn't married?"

He shook his head. "You can't decide who you fall in love with, Kel. That's what makes love so magical."

Deciding to steer the conversation to a more playful level, she smiled brightly and said, "Who would have thought the bad boy of West Bev would be such a romantic?"

His face was still serious as he said, "You did."

It was dark in the room now that the sun had faded past the shore. Only one single lamp shone in the room, highlighting the spark of his eyes and the shine of her hair. Just above a whisper, she said, "Yeah, I guess I did. Ever since my birthday in kindergarten when you gave me that "best buddies" bracelet and planted that big, mushy kiss on my lips."

He crooked his head and looked at her in a sideways slant. "It was not mushy."

"Oh, yes, it was," she laughed heartily. "It was also my first kiss."

He looked down at the Scrabble board with a small grin. He barely noticed that most of the words were _love, kiss, tremble, secret. _Looking back up at her glowing eyes, he said, "I'd like to think I've much improved my kissing skills since kindergarten."

She looked at him wryly, mimicking his cocked head. "I don't know. I think you'd still be mushy."

"I have to defend my honor now!" he said, throwing up his arms. He made a swift moment towards her and she slid off the chair giving a small, girly shriek. He chased her around the front room, trying to catch her to tickle her.

"No!" she yipped. "Don't you dare!" She swatted at his hands as his fingers tickled her stomach.

"Oh, it's too late," he warned. "You're in trouble now!" He pulled her close to him until their hips touched. She accidentally rubbed against him and they stopped laughing.

"Dylan," she said on a soft whisper.

He looked into her cloudy eyes. He saw fear, passion, desire, and confusion. He saw what he was feeling too. Ever so slightly he felt her fall even so closer to his body and that's all it took. He bent down and kissed her softly until her lips responded. His arms wrapped around her back and her hands came up into his hair until they clung to each other, grasping for every inch of each other. His lips sipped at hers as his hand slid from the small of her back up to the base of her neck. He played with the strings of her blouse and his tongue dipped into her mouth, searching for hers.

She pulled away with a fierce yelp, panting as she reached behind her to make sure he hadn't loosened the strings of her outfit.

"Kelly, I didn't—" he started, coming closer.

"No." She put her hand up, walking backwards. "We can't do this, Dylan." Her eyes shut hard.

"We don't want to do this."

Pleadingly, his voice shook as he said, "Maybe we do."

Picking up her chin, she stared him straight in the eye. "I don't." She picked up her back. He reached for her wrist and she jerked it away. "I've got to go, Dylan."

"No, you don't." He was so confused. He wanted to sit down at talk about it. He wanted to know what he should do. He wanted to know what she wanted him to do. "Kelly, don't go."

Taking a deep breath, she tried to smile, wanting to look as nonchalant and normal as possible. "Look, it was no big deal. We just got a little carried away. Why don't you call me tomorrow and we can talk about it then?"

He nodded and said quietly, "Okay. Night, Kel."

She blinked and said, "Night, Dylan." She had no intention of answering the phone tomorrow. She wouldn't. She couldn't.

But damn it if she wanted to.

TBC


End file.
